STMcC’s Vote On '2019, November 1st: Battle Of The Bands' (BOTB) - Or, Jim Morrison Versus Van Morrison - And The Final Tally:
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OK, the Battle took place HERE. Whatever. I'm in such a bad place right now that it's a wonder I'm even bothering to write up this BOTB Results post. (To quote Warren Zevon: "I don't wanna talk about it".)
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As always, I sincerely thank all y'all who cared enough to take the time to visit, listen, and cast a vote.
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I voted for Van Morrison, but, by my count, Jim Morrison (predictably) beat Van 10-6. Our psychic, Carnac The Magnificent, predicted this BOTB outcome correctly, but that hardly required psychic ability. (I'm too tired to count up Carnac's prognosticating record, but I'll have it for you when you tune in to my next BOTB installment on December 1st. However, I know he's doing pretty good now.)
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I promised to tell y'all why this Battle had special significance for me, and although I'm not really in a social mood, I need to keep my promises, so...
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On the BOTB page, I posted the following 2 photos as clues:
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| The Countess in 'The Bucket Of Blood Saloon' in Virginia City, Nevada (circa 1989). |
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| The peak of Mount Davidson with Virginia City's "V" on the mountainside below it. |
That first photo is of 'The Countess' - a past girlfriend of mine (the most significant one). And the second photo shows 'Mount Davidson' which rises above the world famous Virginia City in Nevada. The "V" on the side of Mount Davidson stands for "Virginia City", NOT for "Van" Morrison. And didn't anyone notice the 'Double-V' I created in that photo?! Actually, in truth, the photo is showing 2 "V"s pointing down, and 2 upside-down "V"s pointing up.
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The Countess and I went to Virginia City two or three times, but the first time was probably in 1989 or 1990. One day, on our first vacation there, The Countess and I had climbed up to D Street when I decided I really needed to hike up to the white "V" on the side of Mount Davidson (despite my pretty hellacious hangover). So, she patiently (or impatiently) waited for me while I did that. And when I finally got back down again, she and I went into The Famous Crystal Bar where I bought us Mint Juleps - which started a Mint-Julep-Palooza which likely contributed to the eventual death of [link> Margaret Marks, who was our bartender.
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To this day, the entirety of Van Morrison's 'Pagan Streams' speaks to me about that trip with The Countess:
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And I want to climb that hillside again, with you,
One more time
As the great, great, great, great, great, great, great
Being watches over
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"Honey Street", in 'Pagan Streams', is a reference to 'Marine Street' in Santa Monica, California, where The Countess once lived in "The House At Pooh Corner". I could go on and on explaining what Van Morrison *really* meant when he wrote 'Pagan Streams'.
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Virginia City, Nevada, has ALWAYS been my favorite place (going back about 16 years *BEFORE* I even met The Countess). In fact, the ONLY reason I've lived in Reno and Carson City is because both of them are only 30-minutes away from Virginia City. Here are some photos I've taken of my favorite place on Earth:
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| Virginia City, Nevada, graveyard. |
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| Clouds gather over the graveyard. |
[No double or quadruple "V"s in those photos, so don't sweat it.]
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At least 28 years after I first hiked to the Virginia City "V" while The Countess waited for me, I did it again. And this time, a friendly, local dog named "Rudy" accompanied me all the way to the "V". Here are some photos of him I took while we were both in the middle of that white "V" on the mountainside:
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Over the decades, I've also hiked to the very tip-top of Mount Davidson about 4 times. Below are a couple of photos I've taken from the top of Mt. Davidson, overlooking Virginia City, while wearing some of my crazy socks (I LOVE CRAZY SOCKS!!) :
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| Flamingos Fly Over Virginia City. |
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| Hula Girls Fly Over Virginia City. |
In fact, I intend to drive to Virginia City TOMORROW to meditate and hike, because I need to get the hell outta here and return to 1876, where I belong.
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There was more I wanted to write, about MMWJ ('Morning Music With Joe') and the second disc of Van Morrison's album 'Hymns To The Silence', but I'm just too tired and bummed out right now. Maybe sometime later. But here are a couple of photo-teasers:
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| MORNING MUSIC WITH JOE (MMWJ) |
Thanks, Y'All. I love ya! And I hope to see ya here again for my next Battle Of The Bands installment on December 1st, 2019.
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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We both had a pretty similar point spread. Not surprised with your outcome.
ReplyDeleteI've been a lot of places but I've never been to that area around Reno and Virginia City. Really should go one day, but I'm not sure when I'd do it.
Hope things calm down a bit for you soon. In my world it's like a calm before a storm. Or maybe a clam before a story.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
LEE ~
DeleteI'm not sure that this area would be everyone's mug o' beer. It's high desert - so kind of dry and dusty. But I strongly suspect that I lived a previous lifetime in this area, which is why it appeals to me on some indefinable Spiritual level.
I was all set to coast into retirement, but instead I'm working at a job that is a challenge and I just don't "get" why I'm here. God knows, I suppose.
~ D-FensDogG
'Stephen T. McCarthy Reviews...'
The outcome of this battle wasn't too surprising, given Jim's incredible voice. I thought that lovely lady might be The Countess! ☺ Interesting tidbits and pics of Virginia City. Sounds like a visit there will do you a lot of good, Stephen. I hope things will look brighter in your world very soon. Best wishes!
ReplyDeleteHi, DEBBIE ~
DeleteThanks for the good wishes.
I think the uptempo Rock style of The Doors pretty much guaranteed them and Jim a victory in this Battle over Van's more mellow, contemplative piano-poem.
Yeah, you guessed right about The Countess. I meant to respond to your question in the comment section of the original post, but I got on a roll with my response and forgot there was a question I was supposed to answer. DOH!!
~ D-FensDogG
'Stephen T. McCarthy Reviews...'
The wrong Morrison won this time. Prolly will the next time too. Hard to beat those pouty lips and pretentious posturing with deep, soul-filled lyrics.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the double V, I just didn't mention it in my brief comment. I usually try to keep it at least somewhat brief to not us up too much blog space.
You find some great shots! All of these VC shots you posted are excellent. That shot of the graveyard with the clouds and overhanging branches is quite eerie.
Sorry you're bummed, Brother. I'm still praying daily.
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."
SIXGUN McITCHYFINGER ~
DeleteAlthough I enjoyed both poem-songs, I agree that the wrong Morrison won. My memories are just so intertwined with 'Pagan Streams' that it affects me strongly and there's no way I could have voted against it.
Thanks for the compliment on the photos! I've sometimes thought that God does some strange things with the skies when I go out with the intention of taking pictures. I can't count the number of times I've lucked into good shots where the timing was key.
[Link> Weird Sky
[Link> Another Weird Sky
I have one old picture I took in Greenwich Village in '83 that still makes me shake my head! How I just happened to be there and get that photo in a split second of perfect timing boggles my mind. I can barely even remember taking that picture now.
I actually DID go up to Virginia City yesterday and did some hiking and rock climbing on [Link> Sugarloaf Mountain. And when I was leaving Virginia City, I happened to drive past the spot where I took that picture of the wagon on the mound of mine tailings, and I thought: I'll bet hundreds of thousands of people have walked right past that wagon and never thought about what a good picture it would make.
Thanks for the prayers and the great Bible verse. It's amongst my favorites. I can barely wait for that day to come!
~ D-FensDogG
'Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends'
POSTSCRIPT:
Delete[Link> Weird Sky Over Virginia City, NV. - 2017
~ Stephen
DogGtor of Alcohology &
King of Inebriation Nation
Those are some great skies! The last one is especially beautiful (if a tad blurry because of the low light level,) the way the contour of the cloud almost exactly matches the roof line.
ReplyDeleteI rarely encounter skies worth photographing. God must save them up for you. I take decent photos, mind you. But my skies are mostly mundane athough I've taken lots of pics. I have over 40000 of my own digital images on my computer. In the old days I was a photographer for our newspaper, was a darkroom tech for nine years, and went through the Nikon School of photography and learned the "Zone System." That involved using a light meter to precisely overexpose black and white film to capture detail on film, then UNDERdeveloping the film so you end up with detail in the shadows without obliterating the neg with too much sunlight in other parts of the pic. Ansel Adams created that technique. So, lots of pics in my life. And you have a gift, or at least seem to be given one on a regular basis!
You've probably heard the story of perhaps the most famous photo by the most famous photographer of all, Ansel Adam's best: "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico."
http://anseladams.com/ansel-adams-anecdotes/
Bottom line: driving along road, saw incredible scene, screeched on brakes, grabbed huge 8x10 camera, couldn't find light meter and so guessed at exposure, got one photo off... and PFFFT. Scene gone. Result: best shot of all time.
Part 1 Of 2:
DeleteMcBruhthuh Gunman ~
Yeah, sadly, the quality of that last photo is very poor. Low light, plus I took it with my old flip-phone, so there was no way of getting a really good shot of that. It was SO MUCH more dramatic looking in "real life". And there was no one else on the street in Virginia City, so I felt it was there just for me.
Your knowledge of photography surpasses mine by a huge margin. Although I did spend some time in a darkroom creating half-tone photographs for publication in a couple of major American gun and ammo magazines, as a photographer, I'm strictly 'point 'n' shoot'. But I do feel that God has given me an eye for detail that some folks miss.
My buddy Marty had gotten into photography - taking some college classes - and had some expensive equipment. We used to go out on day-trips around L.A. to take pictures. And apparently he was impressed with the photos I found using a cheap 35 mm camera. So, having a premonition of his impending death, he insisted that his Mom give me his photography equipment when he died. I still have it - and could never part with it - but, honestly, I never learned how to use it. And now, almost everything is done digitally, so Marty's camera and equipment are archaic.
That was a terrific article about the Ansel Adam's photo. Thanks for posting the URL!
The urgency Ansel showed reminded me of the night I got that (poor quality) photo in Virginia City. I got a total of 4 (poor quality) shots that night, but the one I linked to above is my favorite. However, I could see down the street the 'Fourth Ward School' and the way the clouds and light looked around it - with the dying Sun illuminating a small, upper window of the school. I knew the Sun was going to completely disappear behind Mount Davidson in a matter of minutes, so I literally RAN for two or three blocks, trying to get that photo before it was too late. If I were Bo Jackson, I might have gotten there in time, but... alas... I was too late to get a great picture. And what I did get was so inferior to the shot I knew I *could* have gotten, that I deleted it.
In [Link> THIS PHOTO you can see a light shining at the top of a building in the distance (far end of the street). That's actually the Fourth Ward School, and the light is really just the dying Sun reflected in a window. THAT is what I was racing down the street to try to get a closer picture of.
I was struck by this comment from that article you linked to:
>>... Knowing Ansel’s fondness for cemeteries as subject matter, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he remembered that there was a nice little one near a church just around the next corner, and that maybe THAT would work.
Hokey-Smoke! I never really thought much about cemeteries as photography subjects... until I started exploring the Virginia City cemeteries. That really flipped me - how many (what I thought were...) good photos I got in Virginia City's cemeteries. Today, it's actually my favorite VA City location for taking pictures.
Continued...
Part 2 Of 2:
DeleteThe second time I hiked / rock-climbed to the top of [Link> SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN, I got
[Link> THIS PHOTO of a cross on the top of the mountain with a rainstorm just slightly to the East of me. Another time when God dished up something special for me to photograph.
I've hiked up to [Link> the tip-top of Mount Davidson 4 times, and up there on that ridge, you can get some really unique pictures, like [Link> THIS. And there's a very strange but appealing sense of loneliness or melancholia up there, which I think you'll feel in
[Link> THIS PHOTO. Although there are some weather or communication installations way up there on the top of the mountain, I have never once, in four hikes to the top, encountered one other person. The few buildings are signs of human beings, but there are no human beings up there. It's VERY Twilight Zone-ish!
Great comment, McBruhthuh! Thanks!!
~ Stephen
DogGtor of Alcohology &
King of Inebriation Nation
Doggone it! One link didn't work.
DeleteTake Two!!...
"up there on that ridge, you can get some really unique pictures, like [Link> THIS".
~ STMcC
Those are some awesome memories. You are a very good photographer :) Hopefully the trip to VC will revive your flagging spirits.
ReplyDeleteSending you warm and fuzzy thoughts for a healing day.
Hey, muchos gracias, WILD THING!
DeleteThis monkey does the best he can with what he's got.
I enjoyed my day in Virginia City: Did some hiking / rock-climbing on Sugarloaf Mountain. Then I went to visit and pay my respects to my favorite dead 9-year-old boy in the Virginia City cemetery. After that, I went to The Old Corner Bar - https://visitvirginiacitynv.com/virginia-city-saloons/ - where legend has it that Samuel Clemens became "Mark Twain", and I had a shot of whiskey and a beer. Then I got outta town before the authorities even knew I was there. All-in-all, a very good day for a geriatric outlaw!
Stay safe on those roads, my friend!
~ Stephen
DogGtor of Alcohology &
King of Inebriation Nation
Stephen,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to read you're not feeling particularly sociable but being social is what you need. I encourage you to spend time with people you like being near, even if it's a dog. No, not an ugly girl. The kind on four legs. :) I spotted three Vs in the first photo. The 4th eludes me. I'm sure I'm just too distracted to notice it but I loved your photos. My favorite is of the old wagon. You can tell people that you're crazy right down to your socks. :) Saying a prayer that your mood lifts. Turn everything over to the Master while you look for the many blessings that surround you. That always helps me when I'm not feeling good. I'll see ya in December if not before then, my friend. xx
CATHY ~
Delete>>... I encourage you to spend time with people you like being near, even if it's a dog. No, not an ugly girl.
[Link> I've dated a lot of women, but...
Ha! It's almost a trick question but... one of the two upside down "V"s is actually the very peak of Mount Davidson, which forms a... well... an upside down V.
Thanks for the compliment on the photos, and especially thanks for the prayer. I need ever'one I can get - begged, borrowed, or stolen.
I sincerely appreciate you stopping by, my friend.
~ Stephen
DogGtor of Alcohology &
King of Inebriation Nation
Nice battle and that sounds like a great hike!
ReplyDeleteThanks, MIKEY!
DeleteAnd, yeah, terrific hike. Not the most strenuous I've ever been on, but probably the best view from the top.
~ Stephen
DogGtor of Alcohology &
King of Inebriation Nation